Antigone & Greek Theater

Turn in any homework (God of Carnage, etc.) or borrowed scripts.

Today we will continue our reading of Antigone by Sophocles.

Let's start with an introduction to Greek Theater. Then we'll jigsaw the article on Greek Theater. What elements of Greek theater are still present with us today? Let's discuss.

Then, let's continue reading Antigone together.

As we read, let's pay close attention to the use of:

• Hamartia (fatal or tragic flaw)
• Catharsis
• Peripety or peripeteia (turning point)
• Deus Ex Machina
• Tragedy (and comedy)
• Dithyramb
• skene
• Choragos or choragus
• parados/exodus 

How do these terms/ideas work together to make an effective play-going experience? As we read Antigone, what themes/issues or ideas are presented to us? Why might these ideas be helpful or useful to us at this point in our history?

Creative Ideas:

• If you were to write a play about justice/law and its misuse perhaps, how might you tell the story? What scenes or characters would you include?
• What historical figures since 300 BCE have there been that remind you of Antigone and her determined sacrifice or stubborn civil disobedience? How might the play's theme be different from a play from that perspective? If you updated Antigone today, what would you keep or what would you get rid of?
• Choose a popular (or not popular) myth that you know (Greek or otherwise) and make an outline for yourself as to how you might turn this myth into a short play. Include 3-5 episodes, a title character/protagonist, an opposition or antagonist, and other characters you feel you would need to tell your story effectively and creatively. 

The structure of a Greek play was typically:

• a prologue leading to a parados (or parode)
• several episodes (typically 3-5) followed by a choral ode
• choral odes were typically made up of stasimons, strophes, and antistrophes. (Turn and counterturn toward or away from the altar--stylistically the chorus arguing on a specific point or detail.)
• an ending or leaving of the chorus (exode) to signal the end of the play

HOMEWORK: None.